Computerized electrocardiographic (ECG) interpretation has become widely accepted in the medical field. Physicians frequently utilize this technique as a back-up to their own interpretation of ECG results, or as a check to ensure that abnormal ECG waveform morphologies have not been overlooked. The interpretation of ECG waveforms is difficult and even physicians may be misled due to the complexity of the analysis that must be performed. In many instances, multiple tests or algorithms must be utilized to obtain a conclusive result as the result of a single test may fail to distinguish correctly between healthy and pathological ECGs or between different ECG pathologies.
Exercise tests utilizing a treadmill or a stationary bicycle have increased in popularity as a useful diagnostic tool of cardiac health. One advantage of exercise tests over resting ECG tests is the increased number of physiological measurement values that may be obtained as the body is put under a stress and then recovers from that stress. These physiological measurement values have the power to predict morbidity/mortality rates, coronary artery disease, and also can describe the functional exercise response of a patient. An ideal physician would take all of these physiological measurements from the exercise stress test and compare the measurements to the known limits for each of these values as determined by scientific experiments to come to a complete assessment of the patient's health as determined by the exercise test.
Due to recent increases in the number of useful physiological measurement values and applicable analysis algorithms and limits, it has become very difficult for a physician to know and apply everything that is needed for a complete assessment of the exercise test. Additionally, it is increasingly difficult for the physician to understand the meaning of an algorithm result and to identify pathologies that are identified with combinational algorithms that compare limits of multiple measurement values. Therefore, it is desirable in the field of ECG analysis for a system that provides a complete assessment of an exercise test to help a physician manage the high number of physiological measurement values with increasingly complex diagnostic algorithms.